Day 36: Made for a Mission

I'm working on a song. I don't know what will come of it, and it may end up in my large pile of unfinished musical projects (like the chord progression I came up with a few months ago. . . although I think about that every so often, and thankfully wrote it out on Sibelius). We'll see. If anything comes to fruition, I'll probably post it here.

I can't believe I've been reading through PDL for a month, and that I'm almost done! Time is so crazy. I'm finally to the last theme/purpose: You Were Made for a Mission.

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I was wondering about why the book hadn't talked about unbelievers. Now I understand. Ministry = brothers, mission = future (or at least potential) brothers. Got it. If you think about the analogy that the Church is the Body of Christ, doesn't it make sense that we should be doing what it is that He was doing when His physical body was on Earth? . . . oops. That's actually the first bold statement in this chapter: our mission is to continue Jesus' mission here. There are five different passages about His commission to us. It is not enough to just be content with having God in our lives, and in fact, if we know such great news, why aren't we sharing it with EVERYONE we know??? At times we want to make it not that easy (or at least I know I'm guilty of that) but come on! This is ETERNITY! 300,000 piece choirs singing praises to a God that we will see and interact with! Here's a challenging statement: "You are the only Chrisitan some people will ever know, and your mission is to shar Jesus with them." We can't make anyone choose to have a relationship with Christ, but I don't think we are excited enough about it to really sell it anyway! I know I'm not going to get many students to join band if I don't act excited about music; why do we evangelize like it's an inconvenience??

I'm preaching to myself mostly. I don't do this, and I need to stop being afraid and start living the life God intends me to.

Second, our mission is a wonderful privilege. God could say, "Hey, you got it! Congrats! Now just watch as other people struggle while you sit safe in My arms." But He doesn't. He says, "Great! Now go get other people and bring them to Me." We have so many wonderful benefits, being in His family; why are we so stingy with sharing them?

After all, telling others about Him is the best thing we can do for them. The book says that if we had a cure for cancer or AIDS, we would share it. We have the cure for eternal damnation, which is WAY worse than any worldly illness. The book mentions that long-time Christians sometimes forget what it was like to be hopeless when they were without Christ. . . I don't know that I completely agree. I find that most people's personal testimonies are pretty powerful, no matter what age they are and what age they came to know Him. Some people can empathize with others better, but that doesn't mean that we forget what life was like before salvation.

Our mission has eternal significance; our jobs in and of themselves generally do not. But that DOES NOT MEAN WE QUIT OUR JOBS AND BECOME "PROFESSIONAL EVANGALISTS", nor does it mean that if we aren't "professional evangalists" that we are exempt from sharing the Good News! Pastor Dan this morning had some great stuff relating to this idea; here are some paraphrases.
-Compartmentalizing your life (this is my "work sphere," my "home sphere," and my "religious sphere") does not lead to true worship and integrity.
-We work for an Earthly boss, but we answer to a Heavenly manager.
-God will pay us in Heaven far beyond what this world gives us for our work- work for the heavenly reward.
Essentially, we should change our work into worship. PDL has covered this idea already.

I have to get going (it took me a while to clean up my kitchen after last night's cooking escapades) but I will finish this after the Super Bowl Party.

AFTER THE PARTY: I am thankful for my SS class for so many reasons, but I won't get into that now. I must finish this chapter!

Our mission also gives life meaning. "The best use of life is to spend it for something that outlasts it." The only thing that will last is God's Kingdom! Are we making a difference for our current time, or do we have the eyes of eternity? And think about it: the end of time on Earth is directly connected to the completion of our mission. Armageddon won't come until everyone is saved that will be saved. Jesus didn't do a lot of prophesying. But He certainly did a lot of spreading around the message of God, and urged the disciples to do the same after He left the world. I don't know about you, but the combination of getting people to see the truth and get to Heaven along with bringing the completion of time and the eternal reign of God is more than enough motivation to get out and fulfill my mission!

Point to Ponder: I was made for a mission.
Even if God didn't specifically call us to "go and make disicples of all nations," there's no reason that we should ever want to keep that information held inside!

Verse to Remember: Matthew 28:19-20 - "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." New International Version
It is interesting that the Great Commission ends with "I am with you always." We are not tackling the battle of spreading our faith alone, and that is very encouraging.

Question to Consider: What fears have kept me from fulfilling the mission God made me to accomplish? What keeps me from telling others the Good News?
For me (and probably for many people), it is that fear of rejection, of being ridiculed, of being mocked, of being counted as a "crazy." I've barely started Max Lucado's "He Chose the Nails" (and I think that might be the next book I explore via this blog), and this morning in SS we talked about what Jesus knew He would go through to successfully accomplish God's purpose on Earth. I think the journey through that book will be very eye-opening and encouraging for me, and I hope it will for whomever chooses to read this blog.